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Republicanism and Conquest
Rise of the Second Republic It was the year 933 AUC (180 CE). Marcus Aurelius was on his deathbed dying. However, in the latter part of his reign, he reigned as part of a triumvirate with Commodus. Commodus was proving to be a very ineffective ruler. If he came to power, disaster may befall Rome. Enter Aquila, a member of the Senate. He planned to end the First Roman Empire and establish a republic once again. If he were to do this, it would mean the end of the might of Rome in his eyes. Aquila's plan for Rome included the establishment of himself as the consul of Rome. However, he never planned to make himself any more powerful than any other consul of the Roman Republic. He needed to make himself seem like Julius Caesar. To do this, he needed to first establish himself as consul and begin a campaign. He already had such a campaign planned out. It would include the conquest of Germania, even including the many Germanic vassals to Rome. Successfully convincing several notable patricians with his powers of persuasion, he made a plan for a coup against the two emperors. Aquila was ready. Commodus was in Rome. He thought he was absolutely safe. But he was wrong. Aquila's mercenaries ventured toward Commodus and a skilled marksman killed Commodus. One of the two Caesars of Rome was dead. However, few could guess that the First Roman Empire was dying. When Marcus Aurelius came to talk to his dying, the skilled marksman shot an arrow at Marcus Aurelius. However, Aquila threw his shield in Aurelius' path. This was all part of Aquila's plan. At the funeral of Commodus, Aquila expected him to declare him the successor to Aurelius. He was right. Aquila was made Caesar of Rome. No one expected him to end the First Roman Empire. At the Senate, Aquila declared the Second Roman Republic. Declaring himself dictator for life, many saw the sudden change in confusion. However, with the change, the Senate was given more power. With little resistance, Aquila created a freer Rome. Although his declaration as dictator of Rome caused a bit of resistance, few were truly angered at the establishment of a dictatorship. However, despite calling himself dictator, in truth he was more like a consul. He did not have absolute power. That belonged to the Senate. The only thing akin to a dictator was him being in rule for life. Hence the happiness of the populace. Wars Germanic Wars Under their new system, Rome looked to expansion. Aquila wanted to look more legitimate in the eye of the public. To do this, he would need to accomplish a conquest. Aquila looked to Germania. The region was a lot like Gaul in many ways. He thought of it to be a place to begin his version of the Gallic Wars. In 934 (181), several legions under the control of Aquila went to the Germanic vassal of Suebia. There, the king of the Suebi was killed by his legion. Taking direct control of Suebia and its small army, Aquila was ready to do what Germanicus could not. Aquila went toward the River Elba. There, he met the Goths. In the Battle of Elbanum, Aquila constructed a bridge. Waiting for the Germanic tribes to cross, he had destroyed the bridge. In the river, there were still Goths that were alive and kicking. These Goths surrendered. So went the first battle of the Germanic Wars. In the Battle of Vandalica, Vandal tribes were awaiting Rome. Using the Roman tactic of the collapsed bridge, they were ready. Aquila fought a vast and bloody battle with them. However, due to adoption of Germanic techniques, Aquila won. At that point, Aquila decided to stop his campaigns with the conquest of much of Magna Germania for Rome. Conquest of Vassals Rome was entering a period of peace. However, many Romans wanted further expansion. Dictator Aquila decided to invade the vassal of Bosporus to annex Crimea. In a vast naval battle, Rome defeated Bosporus. Bosporus was now a part of the Roman Empire. The nation of Kush was outside the control of Rome. However, they were an easily conquerable vassal. As part of Aquila's campaigns, in an attempt to emulate the conquest of Carthage, sent many legions into the region. Although unnecessary, Aquila wanted to keep the Senate from impeaching him. In a rapid coating, Kush was turned into ruins. The once great nation was no more. Conquest of Southern Caledonia Just north of the Roman province of Britannia was the vague region of Caledonia, inhabited by a confederation of Celtic tribes called the Picts. These people fiercely resisted Roman rule. Conquering the region would be a godsend for the Dictator. In 956 (203), he sent many of Rome's legions into Caledonia to conquer it. These legions massacred the native Pict population, forcing them to flee northward towards the Highlands. This region became known as Pictia due to the large number of Picts living in the region. War with Persia Following the rise of the Araxavites, Rome and Persia saw an intensity in conflict. While Saba became a Roman protectorate, Persia saw it as an infringement of their influence. This led to war between the two. Rome was not ready for war. With a long-running peace, they grew ignorant of other nations. Hence, the Araxavite attack on Rome went very well. A symbol of the war can be seen in the Siege of Byzantium. The Araxavites were able to get as far as Ionia and conquer it. This sent shockwaves in the Roman Empire. However, Rome fought back. They successfully reconquered all that land and began to take even Mesopotamia from the Persians. Economics In Rome, Aquila's dictatorship was causing immense economic growth. As wealth flowed into the empire, Rome got richer. They no longer needed to expand to retain the status quo. In the first year of Aquila's reign, even with the conquest of southern Germania, twenty million denarii went into the Republic. It was good economic times for Rome. People went from peasant to patrician almost overnight. All this new wealth eroded class lines. However, many other empires were jealous of Rome's might. One of them was the Parthian Empire. They began to finance rebels in the empire. However, despite this, Rome just kept getting more money and any such rebellions failed brutally. Rome's economy was reaching a peak. People were getting wealthier. Trade with India and China was increasing. The Baluchi trader became a normal sight in Rome. With all of this new emergence of culture came division. The poor became poorer even as the middle class grew. As class divisions began to rise, the poor began to steal from wealthy Romans. People needed places to store money. This came in the answer of banks. Before the rise good economic times of the Second Republic, there were banks. However, most money was kept at home. However, as the poor began to steal, the rich began to look for safe places to keep their money. Some patricians realized they could gain money from a bank and established ones. A family could now book one or more safes to keep their money safe. Its widespread use led to many banks eventually stealing their people's money. These banks were not trusted. However, most banks were trustworthy and, although this is long before the federalization of banks, intrigued the Senate. However, with all of this good times came crises. With the Bosporan conquest and mass enslavement of Crimea, the price of slaves dropped. Even peasants were able to buy slaves. The Roman social order was disrupted. However, with the drop in slave costs, people were unable to sell slaves. This caused a recession in the Roman economy. With a tank in Rome's economy came a loss in wealth. Many new patricians saw themselves become poor peasants once again. As this recession grew, many senators had growing distrust in Dictator Aquila. However, one of the senators loyal to him eventually found a way to stop this recession. This was simple: Execute slaves. This method, however cruel, eventually ended the recession but with much property destroyed by the dictatorship. During the Roman war with Persia, Phoenician traders no longer traded with Rome. Because they were under Persian rule, no one bothered to go outside of the region. This immediately caused a recession as the seafaring race was important to Mediterranean trade. The recession led to decreased support of trade. Although Greeks were able to, to an extent, replace them, the Persians were at their footstep. As a result, most Greeks went to war with the Persians. As the recession grew, coupled with the slave recession, led to a decrease in patrician populations. This decrease led to many of them getting poor. These poor people were ready to do anything to make themselves rich. Many resorted to stealing banks, most of which were empty. Finally, Africans came to replace the Phoenicians as traders. The war recession was at an end. However, with increased roles of Punic peoples in place of Phoenicians and Greeks, the world would never be the same. Philosophy In Rome, a Greek philosophy grew. In Athens, the ancient home of democracy, the second rise of the Republic spurred a wind of belief in the writing of Plato. His political theories spread across Greece. However, as patricians toured the region for things like pilgrimage, they discussed with Greek nobility about philosophy. These people brought Platonism to the rest of the Republic. Platonic republicanism resulted in many becoming driven to the establishment of an aristocracy. However, when senators got wind of Platonism, propaganda was spread making Rome seem like a Platonist state. The equality of Plato's writings led to a blur in the line between patrician and commoner. Many patricians began to pay or free their slaves. Although slavery would remain a Roman institution, there were a lot less of them. However, there were still peasants and poor people. These people were at the bottom of the Roman hierarchy. This has been covered further in the Economics section. However, in Athens, democracy was revived. In the region, democracy came back and they elected their leaders democratically. This revival of Greek ideals was part of Platonism, but it caused an increased interest in everything Greek. What was caused was that many people went to Greek temples just for pilgrimage. People went to the Acropolis of Athens just for inspiration for their own buildings. Many began to have house gods of Greek origin. It could be seen that many worshipped Greek gods as house gods. In the same place, Zeus and Jupiter were worshipped and both Greek and Roman Apollos were worshipped. Medicine The great physician Galen was finding that the Second Roman Republic was a much better place for him to make a career. Studying wounds of gladiators, he determined that the arteries carry blood and many other revolutionary discoveries. Aquila heard about him and decided that these revolutionary discoveries would help legitimize his dictatorship. Establishing the Roman University of Medicine, Galen acted as a professor. Well-known for his tremendous work as a physician, he taught many patricians about arteries and other things. This made him a help for all patricians. Even the Dictator and notable senators went to the academy to learn a bit about medicine. However, Galen was old. Unable to teach, he put together all of his life's works in a book he called The Galenian Book of Medicine. Today, this book is the basis for all modern science. Many are amazed at how he has thought so far ahead of any of his contemporaries. He is a renowned figure in medicine even today. With Galen's death and funeral, many other physicians came up to the mantle of great doctor. However, while they were great doctors, they did not reach the trust the public had in Galen. One notable doctor was an Egyptian named Akhenjovis. A Roman polytheist, he was directly taught by Galen. Akhenjovis made many of his own discoveries and even the Dictator appreciated his help with an illness of his. Dissecting animals and dead bodies of slaves, he discovered much about humans. He discovered that even the skin had several layers and more about how muscles work. Getting to the heart, he dissected it, learning about its valves and how it worked. Akhenjovis was an image of the intelligent Roman in his day. Although many believe that his contributions to modern medicine was greater than that of Galen, he was much less known in his time than Galen. Outside of Rome The growth of Rome caused nations like Parthia to fall into decline. With the conquest of regions like Mesopotamia, instability increased. This resulted in a decrease in overall well-being in the Parthian Empire. In 975 (222), a noble named Araxava forced the Parthians out of Persia. He founded the Araxavite Empire. However, the Araxavites did not focus on Rome. They instead focused on dominating India. The Bosporan Kingdom prospered from Roman growth. Selling their goods, the kingdom got richer and richer even as it grew closer and closer to Rome. Eventually, they conquered all of the Crimea region, unifying it under Hellenic rule. The rise of the kingdom led to all native Crimeans becoming slaves, most of which were sold to Rome. Saba was getting richer as a nation. As money from Rome made it richer, it began to fall under Roman (or more accurately Greek) influence. Many in the region began to speak Latin and Greek, becoming fluent in both. Eventually, the kingdom became a client kingdom to the great nation of Rome. This became the site of contention between Rome and Persia. This came to war. Map Category:History